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Goats run the show at Spiceland's Caprini Creamery

SPICELAND, Ind. -- About 300 goats call Caprini Creamery in Spiceland home. Seventy of those goats are milked twice a day by Kristy Kikly and her husband Mike Hoopengardner.

Kikly designed the creamery herself. It’s a vision that started with a few pet goats and 5 acres.

“We focus on fresh cheeses. So we do chevre, and feta, and we do some bloomy rind cheeses,” Kikly said. “And then just a few aged cheeses that mostly go to the farmers.”

Taking care of that many goats is a challenge. They don’t like the heat, for one thing. Kikly says hot weather can cut a goat’s milk production by 10-15 percent. And, she said, they don’t like to be wet either.

“If it starts to rain, we’ll know it’s raining because there are just herds of goats just running to the barn,” Kikly said.

Cheese from Caprini Creamery is served at Indianapolis restaurants like Open Society Public House and Shoefly Public House.

Kikly and Hoopengardner say the future looks bright for the creamery as they prepare to celebrate seven years as a licensed dairy.